Mountains and the Future

It seems like just last week that I heard I could not go to Singapore and was making plans to remain in the states. Now I find myself almost done with my clinical practicum and preparing to graduate July 24, 2009.

I was definitely disappointed to have my Singapore plans change, but it has opened the door to a wealth of experiences in my clinical time at Johns Hopkins Hospital and my free time. Int he past few weeks I've been blessed with the opportunity to see more of the mid-Atlantic area, done some camping, spent some much needed times in the mountains, visited the Atlantic ocean, and taken some time to reflect on the upcoming future.

After graduation I am still unsure about where I will officially land. Many hospitals continue to have spending freezes and are not eagerly hiring new graduate nurses. I am hoping to find a job in the Denver area, but am also searching other options. Please pray that the Lord would place me where he would have me right now!

After graduation on July 24th I will take a two week course helping to prepare me for my national board exam. Then, on August 7th, I will begin driving west again! That's about as far as I know right now. Once again, growing my faith and dependency on the Lord! Well, that's about all for now. In future posts I will try to be more specific, but for now I will leave you with some beautiful pictures of Shenandoah National Park and Assateague National Park! Amazing places!

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurynhunt82/Shenandoah#

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurynhunt82/AssateagueIslandNationalPark#

Another Singapore Update

I hope this update finds you all well! As always, God is good and everything has been worked out to stay in Baltimore. Definitely not my plan, but my perspective is slowly adjusting.

I will be able to remain in my apartment in Baltimore and will complete my final clinical practicum on an Adult Oncology - Bone Marrow Transplant unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Our practicum begins Monday, June 8th. I am a little nervous to work with a population that is so immunocompromised, but believe it will be a great learning experience.

Please pray that I would be mentally and physically prepared for my clinical practicum, and not too tired (burned out) to absorb all there is to learn. I pray that my eyes would be open for what the Lord has to teach me and eager to follow his leading.

Thank you all for the prayers and words of encouragement. I will be in Baltimore until the end of July and from there I am not yet sure. Also please pray that the Lord would provide a nursing job closer to friends and family, and plans for His purpose over this coming year!

Please let me know how I can pray for you as well!

Disappointing News

Well I just got news this morning that I will not be going to Singapore after all! Earlier this morning the country had 4 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu and the Tan Tock Seng Hospital is not longer taking students. Particularly international students.

Currently the other two nursing students who were scheduled to go are still going. Their clinical placements were in the Johns Hopkins Oncology unit, which is run separate from the hospital. Therefore, the unit is still monitoring the situation, but is allowing them to come.

Definitely a disappointment! However, I feel that the Lord's leading is very clear. Throughout the ups and downs of not being sure if we were going I kept praying that His will be done and that He would place me where He can use me the best.

I am currently waiting to hear back from the school about where my new clinical placement will be (here in the Baltimore/DC area). Once I know I will update you all again!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!

Checking In

Hello Everyone!

It has definitely been a while since I updated my blog. I am attempting to resurrect this space prior to traveling to Singapore to complete my final clinical practicum for nursing school on June 5th. There is more information to come and notes about my Singapore adventure!

Haiti Update Letter

Dear Friends and Family~

Happy LATE New Year! I hope this letter finds you well and eagerly waiting for the coming spring! Since returning from Haiti at the end of November, I have been excited to share my experiences there and God’s many works with all of you. I started this letter on the plane ride back from Haiti, and it has been a constant thought and work in progress ever since. Coupled with the busyness of life upon returning to the states, I apologize for its tardiness.

First, I would like to say thank you for all the support that you provide in my life and your generous gifts and prayers that made the trip to Haiti possible! I am so thankful for the amazing experience of visiting Haiti and pray that your gifts, and my presence there, have impacted the Bohoc community for the future.

To provide a little background information, I completed my Public Relations Internship with a Christian non-profit organization called ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) in June of 2005. Following the completion of the internship I enjoyed a much needed break and time of fellowship as my friend Dana and I made the long drive from Florida back to Montana. There were many hours in the car, but also many hours spent visiting many of you along the way. I am so thankful for the time to touch base and the hospitality that was so lovingly offered. Thank you again!

Arriving in Montana, I attended a reunion for the Alpha Omega Fellowship House, caught up with old friends, and climbed as many mountains as I could find time to climb. I then traveled on to Portland, Oregon to spend time with my family. I enjoyed a couple weeks hanging out with family and friends and visiting local tourist spots. It was an amazing time to relax and work on final preparations for the trip to Haiti.

August 3rd I flew from Portland back to Fort Myers, Florida to do some final orientation and work before leaving for Haiti. On August 8th Carolyn Langley, a fellow intern, and I boarded a plane in Miami for Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Arriving in Port-au-Prince we took a small 6-seater plane over the mountains to the Central Plateau, where we would spend the next three months working on ECHO’s Small Farm Resource Development Project.

The first weeks in Haiti were filled with new experiences and funny misunderstandings learning a new language and culture. I was immediately struck by the slower pace of life and the wealth of community the Haitian people enjoy. I was also humbled by the beautiful and eroded land, and the daily plight of the community to try and meet basic needs. Most Haitians living outside the larger cities are subsistence farmers who grow a garden to feed their families and hopefully have some left over to sell at the local market. The reliance on the land is immense and insecure as much of the land in Haiti has been stripped of its natural resources and lacks nutrient rich topsoil for farming. ECHO’s Small Farm Resource Development Project seeks to work with the local community to find crop varieties that will thrive in Haiti’s harsh conditions, in addition to working with local farmers to encourage sustainable farming practices.

To accomplish these goals, a large portion of my time in Haiti was spent planting and taking records on a number of different crop variety trials. Variety trials are important because they provide information to local farmers about which particular varieties of a crop perform the best without requiring the farmers to take the risk of experimenting themselves. I had the opportunity to participate in variety trials for peanut, moringa, cassava, sorghum, corn, pigeon pea and banana.

Upon completion of the trials, we held two Open Field Days inviting local farm leaders to tour the demonstration gardens to gather feed back on which varieties were of interest to them. The Open Field Days were truly a blessing to see local farmers share their ideas about various crops and their excitement as they examined new crop varieties that were outperforming ones they were already growing. These field days will become the platform for distributing these new varieties into the local community and the beginning of relationships that have potential to improve the health and livelihood of the entire Central Plateau. What an amazing thing to be a part of!

I also had the opportunity to work with a work team from Tennessee that came to spend a week serving at the HAFF mission. The work team was 10 people including a doctor and nurse who held a couple outpatient clinics in some of the more rural surrounding areas. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to accompany the team on one of the outpatient clinics to a small community called Laboc. The entire clinic was a truly amazing experience!

When we arrived at the church where the clinic was to be held there were already over 30 people waiting. I began the morning by blowing bubbles for the little kids and playing games, but later went into the church to help the nurse take blood pressures and write down each of the visitor’s medical problems for the doctor. It was an amazing feeling to have some language skills and to speak with each of the Haitians one-on-one and simply show them that I cared. It was such a powerful experience! I later learned that this clinic was the first time that many of them received any medical attention in their entire lives. I felt so humbled!

Another highlight was visiting the local Haitian churches. It was exciting to watch them worship the very same God in way that was so unique to them. I confess that the two hour church services conducted completely in Kreyol/French in open-air buildings with blasting PA systems was challenging on some Sundays, but a beautiful thing as well.

One scripture that really stuck out to me while in Haiti was Isaiah 61, specifically verses 1-3 and 11, which read:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,[2] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, [3] and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.[…][11] For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Italics added)

What a beautiful thing to know that God is working throughout the world and among the Haitian people to bind up broken hearts, proclaim freedom, and provide comfort! He has built His creation for eternity, and just as the gardens I helped plant and attend, the Lord is tending His garden (us) and will “make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” WOW!!!!!!!

I continue to struggle to put my time in Haiti into words. Each day presented new experiences and challenges that the Lord used to touch my heart in a truly personal way while providing an outlet for service! Oh the beauty of our Lord and Father! Despite the difficulties I am so thankful for the experience, the challenges, and the new perspective gained. I am forever grateful to the Lord for being my strength and the continual lesson of complete dependency on Him. The Lord is indeed strategic in his plan for our lives. Who would have thought that public relations would lead me to an agricultural organization working in developing countries? Looking to the future I continue to pray for God’s guidance in the details, but I am confident that His plan will unfold over time.

I returned to Portland in mid-November to be with my family and begin to take the next steps in this crazy/dynamic life. I have returned to school to work on prerequisite course requirements for a degree in Nursing/Medicine (haven’t decided exactly what I want to pursue nursing or med-school) with the hope to continue serving overseas in health and community development.

My first week of classes was briefly put on hold for the wedding of my sister, Leigh Shelle, to her fiancé Waylon on January 14th. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, held in the breathtaking Arizona desert, and provided another fun time to see many friends and family. My sister Lacey and I had the honor of being the maids of honor, keeping us busy planning the bridal shower and bachelorette party. I am so thankful for Leigh and Waylon’s amazing relationship and the happiness they bring to one another. What a blessing!

Currently, in between classes, I work as the Chiropractic Assistant/Receptionist for the Oswego Chiropractic Clinic in Lake Oswego where I am learning a great deal about natural medicine, health insurance, and yes, even public relations. In the coming months I hope to find some local opportunities to volunteer and continue to seek God’s long term plan to be involved in development overseas.

I am so thankful for your prayers and encouragement as I continue to seek my place in the world! It is such a blessing to know that I am not alone! Thank you for your support and I pray that God will continue to bless and guide you as you follow Him!

Blessings,
Lauren

Feeble attempt to catch up!

Wow, so much has happened since my last entry at the end of October. To make a brief list, I have returned to the states from Haiti, attended ECHO's Agricultural Conference, moved to Portland, researched nursing programs, enrolled and began classes at Portland Community College for nursing pre-requisites, attended my sister's wedding and gained a new brother-in-law, attended a Missions Conference in Portland, and started a new job at the Oswego Chiropractic Clinic as a receptionist. Needless to say, things have been a bit busy.

I continue to process my time in Haiti and all that God has done and continues to do. I find myself journaling and taking small notes, all to be combined and eventually posted here. Until then, God is good and worthy of all our praise!

Trash along the side of the road and a washed up ship in the bay of Cap-Haitien 

Looking down a street in Cap-Haitien 

Houses along the river as you enter Cap-Haitien 

Crazy Trip to Cap-Haitien

Time here in Haiti is beginning to draw to a close, but not without a plethora of more new experiences and lessons learned. Most of the week Carolyn, Beth and I we worked outside taking data and harvesting various crops. We currently have a number of variety trials on the HAFF properties that are almost finished producing. Therefore, we are working to harvest the seeds for each of the different varieties, get them cleaned and stored before leaving for the states. The process seems long, yet we are more than half done now, so that is a blessing.

This past week HAFF hosted a work team from Chattanooga, TN. The team was scheduled to fly out of Cap-Haitien on Tuesday and Carolyn, Beth and I had told Tim that we would like to visit Cap-Haitien some day before we left if that was possible. Tim told us that he was planning on traveling with the work team on Tuesday to pick up some building supplies in Cap and that we were welcome to come too. We asked the work team if they would mind making room for a few more people, and they said they would love for us to come with them. So it was decided and we planned to leave at 4:00am, allowing time for the 4 hour drive and the work team to stop at the tourist market before catching their plane at noon.

So we all headed to bed early and rose around 3:30am. We loaded the truck and were on our way by about 4:15. We drove for about an hour and a half and made it right outside of San Raphael when one of the barrings in a back wheel started to make noise. The HAFF driver, Elizer, was taking us, and he stopped to check it out. He came to the conclusion that we needed to get a hold of Greg Van Schoyck, the director of the HAFF mission, and have him bring us some tools and another barring before we could continue on. Luckily where we stopped his cell phone actually got service.

Side note, isn't that crazy to think that they have cell service in a country that doesn't even have electricity in most places!

We got a hold of Gregg and he said he would be on his way. So that meant about an hour or more wait plus the time to fix the barring. I was getting antsy sitting, so Carolyn, Beth and I decided to walk farther down the road. We know that just outside of San Raphael there is a river crossing and we wanted to see if the river was passable after all the rain we have received, another one of our worries for the day. So we started walking and praying that the work team would catch their plane.

We walked for about 40 minutes before we reached the river. When we got there we found a huge truck stuck in deep mud horizontally across the road. When crossing the river there is a hill on either side, so this truck got stuck trying to climb the hill into San Raphael in about a foot of mud. They had guys out there with pick axes and rocks trying to help get the truck out, but there were 4 or 5 trucks behind him waiting to come up the same hill.

My next thought, "This doesn't look good at all. Even if we can get our truck fixed, maybe we won't be able to get across the river." The day quickly became a day of prayer. Praying for the truck, praying that the work team wouldn't miss their plane, praying that we could cross the river, etc. As always, God is faithful.

We started to walk back to our truck and were met about half way by another missionary who lives in Pignon. He was on his way to Cap and stopped to pick up as many members of the work team as he could. We told him what we saw at the river and he said that they might as well try it before turning around. I agreed. I like the "lets make sure it’s not possible before we give up" attitude!

They went on and we kept walking. We made it back to the truck to find that Greg's son had arrived with the tools and the needed parts and that they almost had the barring changed. They finished and we got back in the truck and again headed toward Cap-Haitien. I think our total time broken down was two and a half hours.

When we got to the river they had gotten the truck out and to the top of the hill. The truck with the rest of the work team wasn't in sight, so we knew they had made it across. We slipped down the muddy hill, crossed the river, up the muddy hill on the other side and proceeded to make our way to Cap.

The overall ride was really bumpy and rough because we were in a hurry to catch the plane. Elizer hit a lot of the ruts and bumps pretty hard and my arms and legs were tired by the time we arrived at the airport. We got to the airport just as the teams airplane was landing, so God was good to get us there in time.

We said good-bye to the team and waited for HAFF's mail. We loaded up the truck and then headed into town. Cap-Haitien is a coastal city in the very North of Haiti. I was amazed by the number of people who lived there and the conditions that some of them live in. We saw run down shanty houses next to the river and huge piles of trash along the sides of the road. It was very eye opening to see the urban poverty in comparison to the rural poverty that HAFF most commonly deals with.

In Cap we stopped at the bank, a lumber yard, and a small store that carried all kinds of American goods (Cinnamon toast crunch, Mac and Cheese, Cheerios, etc.).

When this was all done we hit the road for the 4 hour drive back to Bohoc. I was gearing myself up again to feel beat up by the bumps, but Elizer drove slower this time, taking each of the bumps and holes more carefully. Well, for a while anyway. Half way up the mountain between Cap and San Raphael it started to rain. We stopped the truck and pulled the tarp over the back so that those of us in the back wouldn't get wet. This made the ride a little harder because we had to sit the rest of the way, and again Elizer drove fast so we could beat the river outside of San Raphael.

Good news is, we beat the river and returned to HAFF at about 8:30pm. We unloaded the truck and I headed home to take a shower and go to bed. I felt tired mentally and physically. Many praises to God who protected us the whole drive there and back and provided the strength to endure the journey.

Well, there you have it. That was my exciting visit to Cap-Haitien. Now I can say I have been there and seen it. It really did give me another perspective on Haiti and the developing world considering the problems facing the urban poor. I am thankful to God for the experience and the many answered prayers throughout the day. I am grateful for the things he continues to teach me about his heart for the world and the role of His children in His grand plan.

I ask that you would continue to pray for God work here in Haiti through both ECHO and HAFF. Please pray that He would continue to provide the resources that are impacting this community and sharing His name with those who do not yet know Him. Pray that the missionaries would have good health and energy to handle the difficulties of life here and the stamina to love with the Father’s love far beyond their own human capabilities. I also ask that you would pray for Tim, Carolyn, Beth and I as we will be returning to the states in another week and a half. The time is drawing short and we are beginning to say good-byes and wrap up loose ends. Pray that the Lord would guide us in the relationships that have been made here and the transition out of this community that has slowly become home, even for a short while.

Again I thank you all for you prayers and support. They are so important and appreciated. God is good and working in amazing ways. We are so blessed to partner with Him in His work and be His hands and feet. Praise be to God!